“I’m not an archivist, but I am a pack rat.” That's how I opened my presentation last week at the Society of American Archivists conference held here in New Orleans. These priests of scrupulosity didn't seem to mind that I'm not really one of them. They were there to hear the twisted, torturous tale of an aspiring community radio station determined back in 1992 to be the station of record for the great music culture of New Orleans. Pretty ambitious seeing that ‘OZ’s annual operating budget at the time was all of $232,000.

So we took short cuts, and having no experience in the business, made nearly every mistake you can make with materials we recorded, including not keeping track of details (the "meta-data", in the parlance of the digital age), like the names of songs and sidemen on the recordings, or much of anything, beyond the band, place and maybe date of recording. And then there’s the security issue. Our engineers had stashed most of our cassettes in one of those neighborhood home storage places. When the flood some call Katrina hit this city in 2005, the waters came within a foot of washing away 13 years of work.

Sitting in coffee shops in Arkansas and southwest Louisiana as we struggled to retrace our evacuation route, there was time to ask the question: how had we been so careless as to keep putting off the proper stewardship of all those magnificent recordings WWOZ had amassed – from night clubs, music festivals, second lines, gospel services—thousands and thousands of hours?

Our education began when we applied to the Grammy Foundation for a preservation grant. Not knowing anything about such things and having only three weeks in coffee shops (because they had Internet connections) to complete the application, we pleaded lack of time. The Grammy Foundation graciously and generously looked past their deadline and, months later, created a special Gulf Coast Preservation Program and we eventually received $40,000.

Then came the shock of finding out how few hours of a professional preservationist’s time $40,000 buys. A friend of the station mentioned a new program being implemented by the Library of Congress to save nothing less than every significant recording and film ever made in America. (I think they have since rethought that one!) We immediately contacted the program director, Gene DeAnna, and miracles-of-miracles, he agreed to take on our entire collection. The LOC transferred our piles of crumbling, moldy tapes, some years later returning to us 15+ terabytes of .wav files on hard disk drives. We even have a WWOZ web page at the LOC! They later told us that many of the tapes were at the end of their shelf life and had we not acted when we did they would have been lost forever.

Had it not been for the near-miss of the flood waters, we might have postponed ever dealing with our precious collection until it was beyond redemption. Of course, we still have more mountains to climb-- organizing our collection in a serious, dare-I-say, professional fashion; reconstructing the meta-data so we know what we have; identifying the gems and mixing and “sweetening” them for optimal listening. And, last but certainly not least, re-acquiring the rights necessary to make these recordings available for air play and public access.

As I told the crowd in the Grand Salon at the Hilton something they already knew—if we had known what we had chewed off back when we started our recording project, we probably would have been too discouraged and “realistic” to even try. Lucky thing for us! And for those who one day will want to hear what living the music was like in New Orleans lo these past 20 years.

"Takin' it to the Streets," WWOZ's weekly coverage of second line parades and Mardi Gras Indian events, kicks off it's fourth season this Sunday with the Valley of the Silent Men Social Aid & Pleasure Club's annual second line parade from 3-6pm. Check out the "Takin' It to the Streets" webpage to see the route sheets, hear weekly interviews with the parade organizers and to check out the schedule of upcoming parades. There are changes from last year's parade schedule, so be sure to check back often.

Warren Easton Charter High School will be hosting a Jazz Legends Concert honoring Easton alumnus Pete Fountain. Featured performers include two other Easton alumni of note: Nicholas Payton and Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews. All proceeds benefit Warren Easton's Music Programs as well as scholarships for instrumental music students. Special Guest Performers: Herlin Riley, Roland Guerrin, Pete Murano and WWOZ's David Torkanowsky.

WWOZ and Coventry Health Care are partnering to offer free educational forums on the ins and outs of the Affordable Care Act (AKA "Obama-care") and its effect on the music community. These forums will offer information on how to apply for insurance and the various government subsidies available.

Students from the Heritage School in the 'OZ studio for "Cuttin' Class".

Auditions for the Fall 2013 semester at the Don "Moose" Jamison Heritage School of Music, the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation's principal music education program, will take place at 10a on Saturday, September 14, at Dillard University. New students are welcome!

Come on out and support WWOZ on Wednesday and Thursday nights! "Reel-to-Reel" is OZ's movie night at The Theatres at Canal Place. There'll be food/drink specials for 'OZilians with membership cards, plus great films with a New Orleans connection, like A Street Car Named Desire and Beasts of the Southern Wild.

The Tulane Marching Band's 5th annual Band Day happens on September 7, when the Green Wave takes on South Alabama at the Superdome. Hundreds of student musicians from school and community bands from across Southeast Louisiana will be participating. The feature song this year will be "It Don't Mean A Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)".

August 29, 2013 marks the eight-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina's landfall in southeast Louisiana, the subsequent collapse of the man-made flood protection system, and the ensuing Federal Flood. Let's remember to take a moment to reflect on both what we lost, and on how far we've come, since that catastrophic day.

Margie Perez recently demonstrated this recipe, from WWOZ's cookbook, That Sounds Good!, on WGNO-TV's "News with a Twist". Like most flan recipes, the list of ingredients is short, but Perez offers a variety of optional additions, including strawberries, bananas, cream cheese, even pumpkin.